Meet Kenneth Pogson the genius who brought you Voodoo Doughnut

The first time a customer walked into Voodoo Doughnut and was handed a bright, pink box was in 2003. Since then, their doughnuts and iconic box have become internationally famous and the business has expanded to three other states and five locations in total.

‘Originally we thought we would open a bar, but we had an epiphany,’ said one of the owners of Voodoo Doughnut, Kenneth Pogson, better known as Cat Daddy. ‘There wasn’t a single doughnut shop in downtown Portland and still no one can prove there ever was one before us.’

Pogson said he and his business partner, Tres Shannon, knew ‘we were going to open up a crazy, rock and roll doughnut shop, but when we opened, we had the voodoo doll and that was it.’

A painting of the iconic voodoo doll doughnut outside the Portland store

The first store opened on May 30th, and over the course of that summer, Pogson and Shannon found themselves trying as many different, crazy things as they could with doughnuts. They would walk up and down the candy aisle at United Grocers looking for new things to add to their creations.

‘I was just picking up weird things and I started with the cereal and that became the cereal doughnut. That’s still one of the most photographed doughnuts,’ said Pogson. ‘I threw Nesquik powder and hot chocolate powder and tang and lemonade on top of doughnuts and that was our second line.’

One of the most popular doughnuts in the store, these creations are topped with Cap’n Crunch cereal

Then one day, Pogson strolled into the Portland store with a bag of bacon and created one of, if not the most popular doughnut Voodoo has ever made, the bacon maple bar. ‘Nobody did weird doughnuts before us. I’m sure someone, somewhere did, but we were really the first and we were the trendsetters,’ Pogson said.

With these first three types of doughnuts released, Voodoo took off as the years passed. They opened another store in Portland just a mile away from the original, as well as stores in Eugene, Austin, and Denver. Even through this expansion, the core values of the business have never changed according to Pogson.

The Eiffel Tower recreated

‘Our whole thing was doughnut awareness; spell it right, they’re doughnuts made of dough. And also doughnut prosperity for all, we weren’t there to destroy other doughnut shops,’ said Pogson, though he did admit that their store may have had a part in both Dunkin’ Donuts and Krispy Kreme leaving Portland.

Pogson takes pride in being the original, unique doughnut shop and knows with the business’s success, there will be people hoping to copy his and Shannon’s ideas. ‘Now we’re having to deal with imitators who are coming up with their own crazy doughnuts and I’m all for it, except for when you copy me,’ said Pogson.

‘Don’t open up a a doughnut shop and make a bacon maple bar, an Oreo doughnut and some cereal doughnuts. That’s unoriginal, that’s fake and as much as that worries me, I know people who steal ideas don’t have the fruition to follow through on success.’

Pride in his unique business and doughnuts in general has always been part of the driving force behind Pogson’s determination to grow Voodoo Doughnut even more and make sure that other businesses don’t copy their ideas. ‘We took it from the start, we developed it, we keep going and innovate, rather than imitate.’

A doughnut created at Voodoo remembering David Bowie after his death

‘Each one store has its own unique things that I love about it,’ said Pogson. ‘The one in Eugene is just this tiny little store, but it’s made an impact there and Denver has probably been our most successful out of town shop to date.’

However, his favorite store is the original, downtown Portland location.

‘That’s our flagship store. It’s the biggest seller and there could be a hundred people in line and I could tell them our other shop one mile away has no line but they want to stay in line because it’s the original.’

An Oregon Duck themed doughnut

While Pogson is surrounded by doughnuts and sweets everyday, he doesn’t eat them very often. However, when asked to pick his favorite creation, he said the bacon maple bar. ‘The fact that I created a doughnut that the former president [Obama] has had and all these other people love the doughnut, that really strokes your ego.’

Pogson sees himself as very lucky to have started and continue to be able to run Voodoo Doughnut.

‘I get to come and have fun at work. There are days when this place has made me cry but every night I go to bed knowing this is my business and the prescription for feeling better is working hard and having fun and that fact that we actually get to do that blows my mind,’ said Pogson.

‘Anyone who can find that in a job…that’s the best job they can have.’